On Jun 24, 2006, at 4:06 PM, Michael Perelman wrote:
What sort of issues have political traction? Gay marriage. No facts required. My marriage is screwed up. Well, it is because a couple married in Mass. The right can get away with such crap because they are pretty unified and the media repeats much of what they say.
Actually that seems not to be true. I had Hunter College poli sci prof Ken Sherrill, my guru on gay politics, on my show the other night - I won't get to post the show to my radio archive until Monday, so there's no link yet. Sherrill said that the Reps have turned to Iraq as their winning issue after failing with gay marriage - it was not the reason for Bush's victory in 2004, and has even less traction now. People care less & less. Gay people in Mass get married, and the world hasn't come to an end; the movement to repeal it seems to have died down. As he points out, emphasizing marriage marginalizes antidiscrimination legislation - though 75% of the public support laws against discriminating in employment because of sexual orientation, it never comes up. It's always about marriage. Doug
